Double Life
by Elraralia
Summary: With the arrival of a new neighbour, incredible things start happening to Adrianna. But how much of this double life can a girl take?
1. Introducing Adrianna

_Yay, new fanfic! This is a pretty strange idea that I have, but I haven't seen anyone use it (possibly because it's so strange) so I wanted to see if I could actually pull it off._

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the rights to Lord of the Rings. I don't even know who owns them, but kudos to them. I, however, do "own" the original characters I have created. So be nice and create your own characters instead of stealing mine.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 : Introducing Adrianna**

* * *

Apart from her family and friends, no one would say that Adrianna was particularly special. She did all right in school, kept herself out of trouble, and went about her day like any other typical, average student. She could not be described as beautiful, but was reasonably good-looking. She was rather tall, with wavy dirty-blonde hair and hazel eyes. It was a look that was common enough. Some said that she was even a forgettable person. Perhaps it was because she didn't like to do things that drew attention to herself. She saw no point in making her presence known to people if it wasn't absolutely necessary, and that was just how it was.

She had one best friend, Ryan, who had occasionally been described as a nerd, a geek and even a dweeb, but had been there for her for years and years. No one really remembered when the two of them had started being best friends, but it didn't matter. The two were inseparable, and would have a chocolate milkshake each in a little café next to the school every day before going home.

I suppose that it would be on one such trip where this story really begins.

They were sitting outside on this particular day. Usually they preferred to be indoors, where there was either the air-conditioning (on the hot days) or the heater (on the cold days), but today the interior had been full when they got there. Such incidences were rare, and there had been some good-natured groaning, moaning, whining and complaining from the two of them as they got their milkshakes and trooped outside to sit and breathe in the chilly autumn air.

"We've got to think through this routine a little more carefully. A cold chocolate milkshake outdoors in this environment?" Ryan remarked, cleaning his black wire-rimmed glasses and putting them on again. "It's crazy."

"But I know you enjoy it," Adrianna replied. "You do, right?"

"Of course I do, but I'm just saying that perhaps we shouldn't do it if we have to sit outside in the cold. I mean, we'd like to have our fun and lovely routine, yes, but do we really want to freeze to death?"

"Don't be such a drama king, Ryan, we're not going to freeze to death."

"Fine… fine…"

"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?"

Adrianna and Ryan both jumped. Before them stood an elderly lady with silver hair and a friendly smile. She was dressed in a long black skirt that just brushed the tops of her thick black shoes and a thick grey sweater. She was rather small in stature, but that could not explain why she had seemed to suddenly appear before them out of nowhere.

Adrianna turned and looked around. Strangely, the other outdoor seats were taken too. She had never see the café so busy before, not in all the years she had come here. And she and Ryan had not even noticed all the people that had come to sit around them. They, like the old lady, had just seemed to appear out of nowhere. _Were we that engrossed in our conversation?_

"I'm sorry if I startled the two of you," the lady said kindly. "But I've been walking for quite a bit and I was just wondering if I could just stop for a little coffee and rest my tired legs."

Ryan stood up. "Of course, please, take a seat!" Like a real gentleman, he returned her smile and said, "Let me get your coffee for you. How would you like it?"

"Oh, how nice of you, thank you, young man! I'd like my coffee black, please."

As Ryan went inside to get the coffee, the lady smiled at Adrianna. "What a nice polite boyfriend you have!" she said. "Such well-mannered youths are really difficult to find these days."

Adrianna shook her head. "Oh, Ryan's not my boyfriend," she said. "We've been best friends for the longest time. My name is Adrianna, by the way."

"Gwendolyn." The old lady stuck out her hand and Adrianna shook it.

"That's a pretty name," Adrianna said.

"Why, thank you!" Gwendolyn replied, looking genuinely pleased. When Ryan came back with her coffee, she smiled again and said, "This is just lovely. If all the people in this town were as polite and friendly as the people I've met so far, I think I'll be very happy here."

"You're new to this town?"

Gwendolyn nodded. "Yes. I just moved here. The movers are shifting all my furniture now, and my new neighbour agreed to watch them for me while I came out here for coffee and a break from all the stress of moving. What a nice lady she was."

"Where did you move into?" Adrianna asked.

"30 Grange Drive."

"Hey!" Adrianna exclaimed. "That's right next door! I live in 28 Grange Drive. And Ryan doesn't live too far away; he lives in 23."

Gwendolyn beamed. "Oh, how wonderful! Then I suppose that lovely lady must be your mother! Oh, this is a very nice surprise indeed!"

Adrianna and Ryan exchanged grins. They had only just met her, but there was something about Gwendolyn that just drew them to her, and they felt as if she was already one of them, a good friend they could count on. "We could all walk home together later," Ryan suggested.

Gwendolyn was of course delighted at the offer. After they were done with their drinks, they got up and began the stroll home, Gwendolyn between the two friends. "Where did you move here from?" Adrianna asked.

"Oh, here and there," was the casual reply. "I've really been living in so many places that it's getting a little hard to keep track! I love travelling around, you see."

"That must be exciting," Ryan commented.

"It most certainly is. You get to meet so many different people and it's nice to think that even after you've moved on and said goodbye to them you've changed their lives, even if it's just a little."

Before they knew it, they were standing outside Ryan's house. "Well, here we are at my place. It's been nice chatting to you, Gwendolyn," Ryan said as he unlatched the gate. "See you tomorrow, Adrianna."

"See you!" Waving goodbye to him, Adrianna and Gwendolyn continued on their way.

"So how old are you?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Eighteen."

Gwendolyn sighed. "I was eighteen too, once. It seems so long ago now. It's a beautiful time of your life, though. Friends and love… everything was rosy and pink, I suppose."

"It doesn't seem all that rosy and pink when you're eighteen, though. There's always homework, and projects and exams…"

"Is that just how it is for you? Just homework, projects and exams? What about friendship and love?"

Adrianna smiled wistfully. "Ryan always says that I'm a hopeless romantic. He always says that the type of love I daydream about doesn't exist; that I'd do better to stop living on a cloud. No, I can't say I've found the love that I want yet."

"Sometimes it's right where we don't see it."

"Excuse me?"

Gwendolyn shook her head, smiling. "No, nothing. I was just thinking aloud. Oh, here we are. I'd invite you in, but I'm sure it's a big mess. Maybe next time, all right?"

"All right."


	2. Mystery

_To Bel: I promise you that there will be nothing from the MIDDLE EAST in this story._

* * *

**Chapter 2 : Mystery**

* * *

Gwendolyn entered her new home humming, feeling rather pleased with herself and her situation. Everything was just as she had expected. She smiled fondly at the thought of Adrianna. What a sweet, polite, lovely child she was. Gwendolyn had a feeling about this one, she just _knew_ that it was going to be perfect.

* * *

The sunshine streamed in through her window, and Adrianna stirred and turned on her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

And sat up with a gasp.

She found herself looking around a simple room, with walls of grey stone. The window by her bed had no glass panes or curtains, only a wooden panel to close it. Across the room was a cupboard made of wood, and next to it was a table, with a candle on it. _A candle? What is this place?_ She got out of bed, and stared down at herself. Instead of her usual cotton pyjamas, she was wearing a long white nightdress. _What's happened?_

She hesitated at the door of the room, not sure what it was that she would find outside. Did she even _want_ to look outside? This was just a bad dream. She pinched her arm and winced. It hurt; it was no dream. She stood motionless, her hand on the knob. _Should I check around outside, or just stay here? There's nothing here, so I'll be safe. But what makes me think there's something dangerous outside? What am I going to do?_

Finally, she decided that just standing there wasn't going to solve anything. With a deep breath, she turned the knob and opened the door.

There was no one outside either. She was standing in a room furnished with a table and eight stools, four on each side. There was a fireplace with two chairs before it. She looked around. Next to the room she had just left was another bedroom. Where she was at the moment (she supposed it was the living room) led on one side to the kitchen, which held plenty of food. _Well, at least I won't be starving to death in this place._ On the other side, the room led to another small room with a large tub set in the middle of the floor, and a water jug in a corner of the room. Something in Adrianna's head told her that this was the bathroom, and she wondered if she would ever be able to bathe comfortably that way.

Having looked over the house (for she was sure that it was a home of some sort), she turned her attention the large door that was in front of her. This door would, no doubt lead to the "outside world", whatever it was. And she found herself thinking over the same question she had pondered over just a while ago. Did she want to know what was outside? There could be absolutely _anything_ out there. She sat down on one of the stools, staring at the door, and at the two closed windows on either side of it. Looking out should be all right. If there was anything terrible outside she could just slam the window shut again and stay inside. _And do what?_ Well, that was something she would worry about when she got to that. The first thing was to see what was outside.

She went to the window and yanked it open, ready to slam it shut as soon as she saw what lay in store. But her arm fell limply to her side as she stared, everything else forgotten.

People walked about outside; women with baskets filled with vegetables, men hurrying about on errands of all sorts, children running about laughing and playing. Her eyes widened as she saw a man walking by in _armour_. _Armour?_ Who wore armour anymore? She thought of the candle in her room, and the bathroom. It seemed as if the question was now not _where_ she was, but _when_ she was.

_How on earth did I get here?_

"Well, at least it seems rather safe," she muttered to herself. "I suppose I'd better go outside and try to figure out what is going on." She looked down at herself. No matter what her situation was, she doubted very much that leaving the house in a nightdress was a good idea. But what else could she wear?

Going back to the bedroom, she strode purposefully to the cupboard and pulled the doors open. As she had been expecting, there were shelves, and held a few dresses. She took one out and unfolded it. It was brown, plain and simple, with long sleeves. _It will do. I hope it fits._

It did, and although she felt strange wearing it, there was no other option. Squaring her shoulders and bracing herself against anything that was going to happen, she went outside.

* * *

No one paid much attention to her, even though one young man glanced at her and gave her a smile and a nod. That reassured her just a little. At least _one_ person seemed friendly. Hopefully that meant that other people were friendly too. The last thing she needed was to be stranded in time with a bunch of mean cannibals.

She looked left and right, wondering where she could possibly go. She saw that the street curving upwards slightly on her right, going uphill. On the left it was going down. _Up or down?_ She had no idea. Finally she figured that more people seemed to be going down, and shrugging, she followed them. Perhaps she could unravel a little of this mystery.

* * *

She stopped and looked around. It seemed as if she was in a market of some sort. There were stalls set up in two rows along the street, and there were people hawking their wares. She walked about aimlessly, looking at everything in a sort of wonder. Nothing in this seemed familiar to her. _What am I doing here? Why am I here? How did this whole thing happen?_ There were no answers, only questions piling up on top of one another.

"Oof!"

She jumped back, looking at the person she had just bumped into, now bending over to pick up the apple she had knocked out of his hand. "I'm so sorry…"

He straightened and smiled. "That's all right. I'm not hurt. Was just a little… startled, that's all."

She smiled in relief. "Yeah, me too." She looked around her again, and her eyes couldn't help but widen at all the things around her. This was so incredible.

"I gather this is your first time in the White City?"

She snapped her gaze back to the young man's face. "Excuse me?"

"Minas Tirith, the White City," he said.

_MINAS TIRITH! Isn't that…_ Adrianna recalled the book she had read about a year ago. _The Lord of the Rings_, it was. She had loved that book so much. _But wait… that's fiction. It can't be…_

"Are you all right?" The young man was studying her face, a look of concern on his face. "You don't look too well."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she blurted out. "Erm… I… erm… excuse me."

She turned and fled.

* * *

She pushed open the door of the house she had come out from, panting. Slamming the door behind her, she sat down on one of the stools. _Oh. My. God. What is going on?_

The door to one of the rooms open and she jumped to her feet with something that sounded very much like a shriek.

"Oh, you're back! Good, good. At least you weren't lost."

Adrianna thought she was going to get a heart attack right there.

"Gwendolyn?"


End file.
